Another Lamp Project

I love pretty lamps. I love it even more when they are not expensive!  I have a nice copy cat lamp project to share with you today.

Let me show you my inspiration.

I saw the lamp pictured above at one of my favorite browsing shops. It is by Dana Gibson and the price was $495! I decided that I could use this one as inspiration to make my own.

I ran across these two lamps at a second hand store. The bright yellow one was $6 and the white one was $15. They are identical in shape and size. When I asked the clerk about the price difference she told me that they don’t sell very many bright yellow lamps so it was cheaper and would not budge on the price. I bought them since $21 for two lamps is still a great price.  Even though one was already white, I taped off the electrical parts and gave both of them a coat of white spray paint. I have to remind myself that several very light coats of spray paint are more effective than one heavy coat.

Next I found some clip art pagoda images online and printed them and cut them out. I also cut out my outline shapes to use. I decided on the placement for the pagodas, taped them to the lamps, and traced around them with pencil.

I pulled a couple of colors from the comforter fabric in the room where I was planning to use these lamps and had sample size jars of paint mixed in those colors.

I started the painting by filling in the big areas.

I filled in with various lines and dots. I used a pencil eraser to make the dots. I was not going for perfection here so slightly wavy lines and many other imperfections did not cause stress.

I added white shades and used some Asian finials from some lamps that I no longer use. After living with them for a couple of weeks I decided to add a stripe to the shades. Adding ribbon to the shades was not an option because of the shape of the shades.

The shades were about $20 each and the paint was $6 total so my total cost was $67 for two lamps. If I had purchased the two in the store it would have cost $1049.40 including tax. I just saved myself $982!  I LOVE it when a plan comes together!

I’ll be sharing with Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style, to Grace at Home at Imparting Grace, to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, and to Best of the Nest at Simple Details.